Bayston’s story speaks to just how differently great racers are wired. Pennsylvania’s Steve Buckwalter quickly recalled his reaction to Bellville, noting how difficult it is to find the edge between speed and disaster.
Anxiety behind the wheel is also reported to be impacted by the magnitude of an event. Nowhere is this more evident than at the Knoxville Nationals. Knoxville is a challenging track all summer long, but every sensation is enhanced come August.
Defending ASCS king Blake Hahn does what he can to quell the nerves when he takes on the Iowa half mile. Hahn can identify the source of his trepidation.
“It is all the buildup and hype,” he said. “But there is also the speed and the amount of skill and different techniques it takes to be fast there. The nerves get bigger waiting on the front straight to be pushed out for qualifying. The best way to deal with it is just to focus and hit your marks and get in as many laps as possible.”
Even knowledgeable fans might be surprised to see Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway make this list. The track has a long history, but the facility underwent a major facelift several years ago that changed the configuration in myriad ways. Geoff Ensign relocated to Indiana from northern California and says the track known to many as “The Burg” got his attention.
Using an economy of words, Ensign said, “It is just the speed, the banking and the little whoops in the corner.”
Buckwalter doesn’t blink much at Williams Grove and Port Royal, but he also finds the Whiskey City bullring a handful.
“I have never driven a sprint car there,” he said. “But in a midget, it is really rough and it seems like we are off the ground more than we are on the ground.”
There are other important contextual issues that skew the results of this survey. For example, today there is a smaller group of open-wheel racers who have performed on pavement than a decade ago. Take Indianapolis Raceway Park. There was a time when many drivers, particularly those who took on the .686-mile oval in a midget, would have added IRP to this list.
While the well-known track is amid a revival, only the recently retired Wally Pankratz singled it out. The articulate Hall of Famer used solid reasoning for this selection.
“I was never a guy who liked to race on the fence,” he said. “I was more of a bottom feeder. At IRP you had to run up top. It is a fast place. I dealt with it by just talking to myself and saying you must run up there. Belleville and Eldora did not intimidate me, and I thought they were easy.”
It would be a fun exercise to see how much the list of intimidating tracks changed over time. Today, for obvious reasons no one would mention places like Jungle Park or the Nutley Velodrome. Suffice it to note that their reputations were well-earned. Hence, any review of the records, personal accounts and available documents underscores that there is little mystery about the prevailing sentiments of drivers in the post-WWII era who raced with the Central States Racing Ass’n, AAA or USAC.
Simply put, the high-banked tracks of the Midwest scared even the bravest of souls. Those who took on these joints never forget them.
Chad Boat, who was successful on dirt tracks of every stripe, immediately offered Winchester Speedway as the track that most came to mind.
“For sure,” he said. “Maybe it was all the stories leading up to it and the banking and the speed, and being 16 years old probably factored in. I ran some big tracks like Belleville, but pulling into Winchester was one of the most intimidating places. I didn’t run there enough to get adjusted to that, but I got going pretty good on other big tracks.”
Ron Shuman was an easy choice for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, but few remember he also raced on pavement. Shuman has haunting memories of racing at Winchester.
“When I went down the front straightaway and I wanted to look over at the second turn, I couldn’t see across the infield,” he said. “It was the same thing in three and four and that’s how far ahead I always wanted to look.”
While Boat had heard stories, for Shuman the darker side of the track’s history also played a hand in his reaction. Pausing a bit in his explanation, he added, “I was also friends with James McElreath when he got killed there.”
